We like to think and talk about strange and excluded things: from ghosts and UFOs to forgotten history and strange beliefs. See below for more details.
We're forteans, we're open minded and we welcome everyone online and at our meetings.
Contact us on forteansociety@live.co.uk

Just as fairy tales warn of the dangers of going in to the woods alone London’s urban legends are often horror stories about going alone down in to the London underground. Plague pits seethe beneath your feet in the most unlikely places, corpses ride on the tube and news of enemy bomb attacks are never further than a trip to the shops away. Some of these urban legends are older than they appear; others are new stories posing as history. Scott will tell these contemporary folk-stories, map them across London and then take them pieces of apart to show you what they’re really made of. Scott is the author of London Urban Legends: The Corpse on the Tube, the author of the (occasional) Fortean London column for Londonist and co-organiser & host of the London Fortean Society.

All are welcome. Each LFS evening begins with the Fortmanteau: our monthly summary of strange news stories. This month our Fortmanteau-ist will be the returning Jude Cowan Montague.

Why should people who believe in ghosts have all the fun? Come walk the atmospheric and ancient streets of Smithfield and Farringdon hearing of the stories of screaming Anne, ghosts of inconveniently alive judges, carpet lifting pub ghosts, wizards reincarnated as slavering black dogs and the ghost of Scratching Fanny on Cock Lane (to name but a few).

This walk will be funny, irreverent, and informative and will wonder what ghosts are what ghost stories say about who we are and how we think about the world. No ghosts were harmed in the making of this walk; This is a walk for anyone interested in ghost stories and London be they sceptical or otherwise. All are welcome. Your guide is London Fortean Society host Scott Wood. Scott is the irregular writer of Fortean London for Londonist and the author of the forthcoming London Urban Legends: The Corpse of the Tube. Don't forget our 31 October Halloween Ghost Night in the pub.

This will be a dark trek past ghost-ridden palaces, haunted trees, headless phantoms and plague legends of Green Park and St James Park. Gaze upon St James Palace, Clarence House and Buckingham Palace while hearing of their ghosts. Linger not near the cursed trees, hear of the staked body buried at the cross-roads, the witch that lived where Buckingham Palace is now and do not blink while gazing upon the statue that is said to move.

This Halloween walk is through Green Park and St. James Park and to the dark side of some of its most famous buildings is a 1 hour- 1 hour 15 minute tour which ends on Queen Anne Street near St James Park tube (and a pub).

Clerkenwell and Smithfield EC1 are steeped in history, soaked in blood and crawling with ﻿

The Smithfield Ghost

ghosts. Meet at Farringdon station for a walk that includes a gut-wrenching phantom black dog, haunted plague pits, hungry ghosts, poltergeists, haunted pubs, subterranean folklore and the devilish secret of Bleeding Heart Yard.

This Halloween walk is almost circular and covers legends and monsters of Smithfield Market, Cock Lane, Newgate Prison, St Bartholomew’s church and hospital and much more.

This almost circular guided walk will take around 1 hour – 1 ¼ and ends near a number of pubs for those wishing to continue the discussion. Your guide is London Fortean Society host Scott Wood. Scott is the irregular writer of Fortean London for Londonist and the author of the forthcoming London Urban Legends: The Corpse of the Tube.

Tuesday, 1 October 2013

Our October meeting falls on Halloween so we’ve put a haunting night together:

GHost artist Sarah Sparkes speaks on Poltergeists as hecklers

Folklore expert Paul Cowdell discusses and sings ghostly folk songs

Storyteller Olivia Armstrong tells haunted tales

Mario Lautier Vella: Like Home

Paul Cowdell: Ghost SongsTraditional songs are full of folklore about ghosts. They tell you why people become ghosts, what ghosts look like, what the living have to do to allow the dead to rest in peace. Paul, a folklore expert on ghosts and a fine singer, will be talking about ghostlore in and around traditional songs, and singing some of them. Expect tragedy, revenge, violence, romance and a woman mistaken for a bird.

Mario Lautier Vella – Like HomeIn 2009, artist Mario Lautier Vella discovered his home was haunted. Strange events prompted further investigation, resulting in new artwork that explores ideas around sensing and collaborating with the invisible as well as the uncanny domestic space.Olivia Armstrong: Haunted StoriesOlivia is a London-based storyteller, telling traditional folktales, wonder tales, legends and myths from around the world. Sarah Sparkes: Poltergeists: The Disembodied Heckler"The malicious tricks played by the poltergeist are as well known as the low level of his intelligence and the fatuity of his communications"Karl Jung A Heckler is a person who harasses and tries to disconcert others with questions, challenges, or gibes. Hecklers are often known to shout disparaging comments at a performance or event, or to interrupt set pieces with the intent of disturbing performers or participants. Poltergeists disrupt routine and order in a domestic arena with insulting retorts, the use of domestic objects as missiles and the occasional possession of a family member. The Poltergeist subvert the control dynamics within the family, with poltergeist agent ﻿

becoming the intermediary of alleged outside forces; unpleasant behavior is rewarded with notoriety, the unseen and the taboo become visible and beguilingly charismatic. At their most successful the agent will come under the scrutiny of so-called experts; titillating a much wider, even global, public audience via extensive media coverage. Drawing on a number of case studies this presentation will put the case for poltergeists as 'disembodied hecklers'.

All are welcome. Each LFS evening begins with the Fortmanteau: our monthly summary of strange news stories

Thursday, 12 September 2013

Sarah Sparkes: Ghost Stories and Spirit of PlaceSaturday 14 September 1pm-2pmThe Senate Room, Senate House Malet Street, London, WC1E 7HU. A short talk on ghost history, London ghosts and the ghosts of Senate House by GHost artist and London Fortean Society speaker Sarah Sparkes, with some assistance from LFS host Scott Wood.

Why does London, and England, have so many ghosts, what are their stories and how many are we sharing the building with during the talk? This is a free event is hosted by the GHost and the London Fortean Society. It is part of a documentary on ghosts by a film crew and filming will be taking place during the talk.The talk will take place in the Senate Room, Senate House Malet Street, London, WC1E 7HU.

Graveyard expert Rob Stephenson on London’s Lost Labyrinths ﻿﻿Fantasy writer Kate Griffin on London and Magic and InspirationJournalist Peter Watts on A Curse on Eddie and the Hot Rods!Author Gareth E Rees on Haunted by Time: Atemporal Hallucinations in East London’s Marshes

We will have the Fortmanteau: our monthly summary of strange news stories

Kate Griffin: London Magic & InspirationKate, author of 'Stray Souls' and 'The Glass God', will talk about London and how it inspires her and all the things in it that Ishe regards as as ‘magic’. How ‘magic’ in the city is changing and evolving and we’re updating the mythology of it all and the evolution of urban fantasy.Rob Stephenson: London's Lost LabyrinthsSpiralling out from the centre of London is a serpent of long-forgotten labyrinth and maze sites. The locations are now only recoverable from dusty tomes or by studying the contorted faces of those that unwittingly live above their former locations. Our speaker, former host of the London Earth Mysteries Circle, has trod that twisted path and will reveal all.Peter Watts: A Curse on Eddie and the Hot RodsPeter Watts, writer of the great Great Wen London blog, tells the mysterious story of how Aleister Crowley's curse ended the career of a London pub-rock band.Gareth E. Rees: Haunted by Time: Atemporal Hallucinations in East London’s Marshes

Image by Gareth E Rees

The talk will reveal some of Gareth's strange impressions and intimations while walking this inner city wilderness and attempt to explain the strange warping effect the landscape has on your sense of chronology, inspiring visions of prehistorical monsters (crocodiles, bears, sabre tooth tigers), post-apocalyptic futures, and memories of wars and industrial revolutions you've never experienced. Gareth is the author of forthcoming novel 'Marshland', and The Marshman Chronicles, a blog about Hackney, Walthamstow and Leyton marshes.All are welcome. Each LFS evening begins with the
Fortmanteau: our monthly summary of strange news
stories

Wednesday, 31 July 2013

It’s the summer holiday: let’s go outside! Join London Fortean Society host Scott Wood on a walk from the Royal Exchange to our home at The Bell, Middlesex Street that takes in London lore, ghosts, revenants, witchcraft, urban folklore and psycho-geography. We will explore London legends from the London Stone to the Demons of Cornhill and the ghost story of our own pub home: The Bell. Scott is the host of the London Fortean Society, writes the monthly fortmanteu and it the author of Urban Legends of London: The Corpse on the Tube and Other Stories which is out November 2013. This is a walk and not a talk! Meet at 7.30pm by the Duke of Wellington statue outside the Royal Exchange at the start of Threadneedle Street and Cornhill. Nearest station is Bank.

Thursday, 11 July 2013

Sadly Will Storr cannot make the 25 July as he is interviewing Carrie Fisher (and Mark Hamill) about Star Wars. Can't say we blame him.... Another day for Will and Neil but instead we are very excited to have the following talk:Professor Roger Luckhurst: The Telepathic WT Stead25 July 2013 8pm-10pm£3 / £2 concessionsThe Bell, 50 Middlesex Street, London E1 7EX.
﻿

WT Stead and adoring friend

William T Stead was a towering figure in late Victorian and Edwardian England, a journalist and proprietor who invented the campaigning tabloid expose at the Pall Mall Gazette and then set up the world famous Review of the Reviews in 1890. He was an ardent imperialist, a Liberal radical, a feminist, dissenting Christian, and bugbear of every Prime Minister from 1875 to his death on the Titanic in 1912.

He was also obsessed with every aspect of the occult, from Spiritualism and Theosophy to the new-fangled science of psychical research. He claimed to have powers of telepathic communication, which considerably aided his management of world news, and was also a very chatty spirit after drowning on the Titanic.

Roger Luckhurst teaches at Birkbeck College, University of London. His most recent books

include The Mummy's Curse: The True History of a Dark Fantasy (Oxford, 2012) and a co-edited collection, W. T. Stead: Newspaper Revolutionary (British Library Press, 2012). His edition of H. P. Lovecraft's Classic Horror Tales was published by Oxford in May 2013.

All are welcome. Each LFS evening begins with the Fortmanteau: our monthly summary of strange news stories

Friday, 31 May 2013

27 June 2013 - What we really talk about when we talk about UFOs
7.45pm for 8pm start.

£3/£2 concessions
It will be 66 years and three days since the first 'flying saucer' sighting. We have gathered a panel of UFO investigators and experts and asked them their ideas of the reality, meaning and significance of the UFO phenomena. Each will give a short presentation of their view of UFOs and then, after a trip to the bar, we open up the floor for a discussion on this perennially contentious issue.
The panel will include:
•Robert Moore: UFO co-ordinator for the Association for the Scientific Study of Anomalous Phenomena
•John Rimmer of Magonia Magazine and blog and author of The Evidence for Alien Abduction
•Matt Lyons: Chairman of the British UFO Research Association

All are welcome. come and listen in or join the debate about UFOs ideas.

Sunday, 5 May 2013

﻿Hear how the mighty and the humble have suffered the most bizarre, embarrassing and amusing deaths at the hands of fickle fate. Historian and esoteric London expert Robert Stephenson takes us on a dance macabre for Corpus Christi.Each LFS evening begins with the Fortmanteau, our monthly summary of strange news stories

Friday, 29 March 2013

This event has now SOLD OUT! Please contact us to join the waiting list for returns.

A Morphogenetic Field yesterday

The science delusion is the belief that science already understands the nature of reality, in principle, leaving only the details to be filled in. But recent research has revealed unexpected problems at the heart of physics, cosmology, biology, medicine and psychology.

Rupert Sheldrake turns the ten fundamental dogmas of science into questions, opening up startling new possibilities. Dr Rupert Sheldrake is a biologist and author of The Science Delusion.

Wednesday, 27 March 2013

Art that interprets fortean phenomena is something we’ve always been fascinated in. Perhaps because it may be the nearest us humble forteans get to actually experiencing something paranormal. Artists often engage with the unseen and inexplicable in alluring and thought-provoking ways so we’re very pleased to see a number of art exhibitions in London that cover a variety of fortean themes. We’ve not had a chance to see any of these yet so below are the blurbs for each and most cost nothing but time and travel.

Channels

Susan Hillier’s Channels at Matt’s Gallery in Mile End (Wed-Sun until 14 April) is a “a vast audio-sculptural installation in which disembodied voices report on 'near-death' experiences."

"Hiller uses audio accounts in many languages from people who believe they have experienced death as the raw materials for her new work. Vivid stories of those who believe they have died and returned to tell the tale constitute a remarkable contemporary archive, whether the accounts are regarded as metaphors, misperceptions, myths, delusions or truth.”

Modern Witchcraft

Modern Witchcraft at the AST Gallery in North Lambeth (not far from Waterloo statio) is curated by
Juan Bolivar and contains "objects of superstition and antiquity from the Cuming Museum and Southwark Art Collection" which, lucky talismans that they are, kept them safe from the recent fire at the Cuming Museum and Southwark Library (another post on that soon hopefully). Monday to Saturday 1.30-5pm until 18 May.

Way further south is Beastly Hall, free with entry to Bexley Hall and Gardens (adults £7, under 16 £5) which includes the fantastic Peter Blake, Polly Morgan and Tessa Farmer.

Meet a carnival of unlikely monsters and unnatural beings in the new exhibition, Beastly Hall. Featuring work by 28 internationally acclaimed artists including Damien Hirst, Peter Blake, Jake and Dino Chapman, Tessa Farmer, Laura Ford and Polly Morgan, the exhibition is a visual feast.

A typical evening with Ghost

Beastly Hall is on until 1 September.

Out in the west end and speaking of Polly Morgan-style taxidermy tableaux’s is Natalie Meyjes strange and small set-pieces on the theme of The Fairytale at Long & Ryle. They look fascinating. On until 26 April.

While we're on art and the paranormal, be sure to check out GHostand it's regular events it's art events exploring "the various roles ghosts play in contemporary culture by bringing artists, writers, curators, researchers and others together." It's run by LFS friend and speaker Sarah Sparkes.

Is you know of anything of fortean-arty interest, please let us know in the comments! Thanks.

Wednesday, 6 March 2013

28th March 2013 – The Lord was at Glastonbury: Somerset and the Jesus Voyage Story At The Bell, 50 Middlesex Street, London E1 7EX£3/£2 concessions8pm - 10.30pm(talk 8-9pm)

Anthropologist and archaeologist Paul Ashdown wrote the first comprehensive and scholarly account of the young Jesus visiting Britain. In this Good Friday Eve talk we shall meet a cast of characters including the first Grand Bard of Cornwall, the conqueror of Tibet and those eccentric clergymen who sought to prove the tale was actually true – and we look at the medieval background to the story and at Blake’s own mystical vision

Wednesday, 13 February 2013

The Whitechapel Murderer has become for many the archetypal “lurker in the shadows” – bogeyman and arch supervillain, folklore filmstar and mainstay of the modern Halloween. Ripper author and researcher John Bennett examines how a very real killer became a universal icon of fear, via mass hysteria, urban legend, psychogeography and conspiracy. John is the author of Jack the Ripper: The Making of the Myth.

Each LFS evening begins with the Fortmanteau, our monthly summary of strange news stories, this month our Fortmanteu is from special guest Jude Monteque Cowan. We meet the last Thursday of each month (usually) upstairs at fantastic pub The Bell, 50 Middlesex Street, London E1 7EX. Tubes: Liverpool Street, Aldgate, Aldgate East.

Thursday, 10 January 2013

Why are people afraid of monsters? Easy: big teeth and claws. Why are people afraid of the past. Ah, now, that’s more difficult. But dragons haunt barrows and crumbling fortresses… giants step from old tombs to strike horror into their puny descendants… media culture has its monsters resurrected from Arctic ice… and even pop science is obsessed with ideas of ancient origins for the terrors of the imagination. Old = scary in meta-narrative, and has done so for three thousand years.